By 1993, when crappy bar bands everywhere decided to "go alternative" in hopes of getting signed, everything had changed for a band like Dinosaur Jr. It would have been easy for J. Mascis to streamline his sound — if not to tighten up his singing — and ride the gravy train straight to a future episode of MTV's Cribs. Instead he released an album that displayed an awesomely uncool ambition, full of moody, mid-tempo love songs with near-orchestral arrangements, and driven by the kind of stadium-flattening melodic solos that made Tom Scholz and Neal Schon very rich men. But true to Mascis's roots, if Where You Been had the grandeur of arena rock, it was still aimed at punks nursing broken hearts in strip mall parking lots. "What Else is New" merged the bouncy slacker romanticism of Dino's best work with weepy strings that would have warmed Dianne Warren's cheese-loving heart. But thankfully Mascis never forgot the essential silliness at the heart of the anthem-writing impulse. His wobbly, castrato-grade high notes on "Start Choppin'" are among the alt-rock era's funniest (musical) moments. (And please note: they were intentionally funny, a rare thing in those days.) If Where You Been's '70s-sized… read more »